College of DuPage radio station employee pleads guilty to theft

A radio station engineer at the College of DuPage whose theft arrest was the first in a series of allegations of campus financial impropriety pleaded guilty Tuesday to theft over $100,000 from a school.

John J. Valenta, 66, will face a minimum six-year prison term after entering a guilty plea before Judge Liam Brennan in DuPage County court on the same day his trial was to begin.

In return for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop other charges against Valenta, and they also agreed to cap their maximum recommendation at 10 years in prison. The maximum term on the theft charge is normally 30 years, with a six-year minimum.

Valenta is to be sentenced May 19 and remains free on bond. Valenta declined to comment after entering his plea.

Authorities said the Wheaton resident fraudulently billed the college for $400,000 in parts for the radio station that were never installed. When Daniel Bindert became manager of WDCB-FM 90.9 in 2013, he became aware of unusual billing and alerted authorities. Valenta, who had a previous conviction for fraudulent billing while working at the Elmhurst College radio station, left COD in February 2014.

As part of the hearing, Assistant State's Attorney Ken Tatarelis read a lengthy statement in support of the guilty plea.

Valenta, he said, had worked at the station for 30 years. In 1990, he created a company called Broadcast Technologies, which invoiced COD for repairs to station equipment. However, Tatarelis said, almost all of the parts Broadcast Technologies billed were never installed at COD.

John J. Valenta, 67, of Wheaton, will face trial in DuPage County court beginning Feb. 28....

A man accused of defrauding the College of DuPage radio station — whose alleged activities touched off a widespread examination of operations throughout the Glen Ellyn school — will go on trial in February.

John J. Valenta, 67, of Wheaton, will face trial in DuPage County court beginning Feb. 28....

(Clifford Ward)

A former station manager, Scott Wager, who had supervised Valenta and approved most of the invoices between 2001 and 2013, was unaware that Valenta was the man behind Broadcast Technologies, the prosecutor said.

"Wager would testify that he trusted (Valenta)," Tatarelis told the court, "as he did not have the expertise in broadcast engineering that the defendant had, and had to rely on the defendant that the station needed the parts that were invoiced, and he believed that the defendant was actually installing those parts."

When Bindert became station manager in October 2013, he noted unusual and expensive invoices from Broadcast Technologies, and an examination of its invoices raised questions, Tatarelis said.

On Jan. 5, 2014, the prosecutor said, Bindert and Valenta had a phone conversation in which Valenta said he was at the station's transmitter building doing work. Bindert went to the building, and although there was a foot of snow, Bindert could not see signs of footprints or car tracks. Valenta later appeared at the station and said he had been working on the transmitter, though Bindert didn't see any snow on him, the prosecutor said.

Bindert later received an invoice from Broadcast Technologies for work done that day, which the station manager declined to pay, the prosecutor said.

An audit showed that Broadcast Technologies had billed COD $443,000 over a 14-year period, and Valenta told authorities in January 2014 that only about 10 percent of the total was legitimate, Tatarelis said.

"The defendant said that he submitted some of the fictitious invoices to compensate the defendant for the hazard of having to climb the radio station's tower five of six times within the past year," Tatarelis said.

Valenta, a father of six, told police that he used the money for medical and household expenses and to pay credit card bills.

"The defendant admitted that what he did was not right, and that he looked at what did as an opportunity to generate income," Tatarelis said.

COD spokesman Joe Moore and Bindert were in court to hear the plea. Both declined to comment beyond offering a statement from COD President Ann Rondeau.

"Mr. Valenta's fraud violated the public trust in addition to harming the college," Rondeau's statement read. "Now that he has admitted his guilt the college will continue its efforts to ensure that he is fully held accountable, including by seeking restitution."